Posts Tagged ‘parkrun’

Last Saturday, I completed my 300th parkrun.

Unfortunately, there was no time to celebrate. I was hoping to do it on 1 April and had even cleared a space in my diary to finally stop for coffee after. But then I had the flu so missed that run. By the time the next week rolled around, it was in the middle of the DUHAC 24-hour relay, so I had to keep running. But good to make it through the unofficial milestone.

Venla recently completed her 21st junior parkrun, earning her the marathon wristband (21 x 2k = 42k). She didn’t look too impressed but I think she’s mostly there for the food trucks after the run.

Yesterday, Venla set a new PB at Marlay junior parkrun: 15:15. The big shift, though, was that she ran the whole thing for the first time (with me, at least).

I don’t encourage pacing because that is a boring adult thing to do. Sprinting a bit and then walking a bit is usually much more fun. But Venla spontaneously decided halfway around the course that she wanted to try and run all the way to the end. And she managed it!

With my parents visiting, we were determined to get out and do a parkrun on Saturday. And that took some determination because it was raining heavily. More heavily then when my first parkrun in Ireland over at Fairview. And that was in the warmth of early September.

The run starts at the top of the hill by Cabinteely house and then goes down the hill and back up again for one short loop and then two longer loops. I set off quite hard as I wanted to stay warm and was soon wondering if I had overcooked it given I still have a cold. By the third lap I was ready to walk up the hill but another runner slowed down to chant encouraging words at me and then I was socially obligated to keep pushing. I managed to hold it together to the line, squeezing in at 22:59.

Exploring another new parkrun in Dublin. Brickfields is not too far from Rathmines and a bit smaller than Bushy: the course consists of four laps of the top part of the park. The surface is good although there are lots of leaves, and it is flat.

That’s right, I’ve done Bushy parkrun! But not that Bushy parkrun. Bushy park in London is where parkrun started. Bushy park in Dublin also has a lot going for it. It has been running for four years and the course is beautiful. Along the river and through the park. It is almost all in the shade of the trees but still on good-quality tarmac paths and one “hill” that creates less elevation gain than Woodhouse Moor.

Another week, another new parkrun. This one in Poolbeg, which is a park in Sandymount, Dublin. Sandymount is part of Dublin Bay and the course goes along the water for quite a bit of it so the views are beautiful.

There is a single path with runners going ways so overtaking is difficult. If you want a fast time, you will want to position yourself towards the front. The website describes it as mixed surface but it is almost all tarmac or good-quality gravel.

Avondale Forest is a park in County Wicklow. It is about a 20-minute drive from Ashford if you find yourself in Ashford. The course features two loops but a single lap with a slight repeat in the middle, so mostly you are running around terrain you haven’t been on before. It’s all off-road using the gravel paths. There are some hills but none of them are overly steep or long.

Corkagh is a park located in the west of Dublin. It’s a good size and the course is two loops of opposite sides so you run back up the straight you ran down initially but beyond that, there are no loops. There are frees, fields and ponds to run past so it’s all very nice.

I’m still feeling under the weather and running in my easy-pace shoes, so I was pretty happy with 22:11.

Last weekend we headed to Ullswater for an event. The closest parkrun is Penrith. In some ways, it is a shame to come to the Lake District and run around a sports field. But it was well-attended, people were friendly and I had a good time.

It was the opposite to Fairview parkrun: I only managed 23rd place, despite running a faster time, but that was good enough for 2nd in my age group.